


A Very Different Betrayal

by DPPatricks



Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 01:36:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DPPatricks/pseuds/DPPatricks
Summary: A version of The Fix we never saw. Thankfully.





	A Very Different Betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> There have been so many betray-Starsky, dis-Starsky, abandon-Starsky, belittle-, demean- and denigrate-Starsky stories posted, recommended, and applauded, I began wondering how Hutch fans would feel if Starsky treated him in a similar fashion?

“Starsky! Get in here!” Captain Dobey bellowed from his office.

In no real hurry, Starsky got up, moved to the open door and leaned in. “You wanted to see me, Capt’n?”

“Where’s Hutchinson?”

Starsky shrugged. “Beats me.”

“Whaddaya mean, ‘beats me’? He’s your partner. You’re supposed to know where he is at all times.”

Starsky wandered to the water cooler and drew a cup. “You know Hutch.” He sat in his usual visitor’s chair, drank some. “He loses track of time when he’s involved with a new skirt.”

Dobey’s ire visibly mellowed to mere irritation. “What new skirt?”

“A willowy blonde. Hutch said he met her on the canal bridge near his cottage a couple of months ago. Looked like she was thinking of suicide.”

“That water’s only a few feet deep, isn’t it?”

Starsky couldn’t quite smother a cynical chuckle. “That’s right, Cap. She’d’a gotten wet but the possibility that she’d have drowned was a stretch.”

“Hutch felt sorry for her?”

“Guess so. He took her to Huggy, who gave her a job.” Starsky finished the water and tossed the cup in the round file. “Huggy says she’s good, too. Keeps the customers happy.”

Dobey looked him in the eye. “You don’t sound like you are.”

Starsky got up, drew another cup of water and drank it before he sat back down. “I’m not sure what I feel, Capt’n.”

“What’s her story?”

“Hutch introduced us the first night she was working at the Pits and I’m afraid it sounded like a sob story to me. How she was afraid of the guy she’d been shacked up with, how she was trying to get away from him but had nowhere to go.”

“And Hutch fell for that?”

“Huggy, too.”

“Must be a knock-out.”

“Pretty enough face. Long blonde hair, skinny as a snake. Definitely Hutch’s type.”

“You didn’t like her?” Dobey asked.

Starsky shook his head. “She’s probably okay. It was her voice that put me off.”

“What do you mean, her voice?”

“High-pitched, childish,” Starsky replied. “Reminded me too much of an aunt of mine who whines all the time. I had the feeling this chick always gets her way when she uses that tone.”

“What’s her name?”

“Jeannie Walton. At least that’s what she told us. Hutch took her back to his place but I didn’t buy the story completely. I caught a cab from Huggy’s, came back here and ran her. No record I could find so I left it alone. Chalked it up to another damsel-in-distress who’d take advantage of Hutch until he wised up.”

“He’s been seeing her for two months?”

“Every night we’re not working.”

“I don’t like the sound of this, Starsky.”

“Neither do I, Cap, but like I said, you know Hutch.”

“Yeah, I do. When does he plan on coming back to work?”

“Last time I talked to him, Friday, he said he had Jeannie stashed somewhere and they were going to spend the weekend figuring out a more permanent solution.” Starsky shrugged again. “Haven’t seen him since.”

“Can you handle that string of robberies by yourself?”

“We worked it all last week but with Hutch stopping, or making me stop at phone booths, so he could call her every five minutes, we didn’t get anywhere. Can I partner up with Andrews until Hutch gets his head on straight?”

“That’s a good idea. Andrews’ partner won’t be back for at least six months and he’s at loose ends. Talk to him, see what he says.” Starsky got up and headed for the door until Dobey’s next words stopped him. “You going to look for Hutch?”

Starsky turned back. “Why should I? He’s been more of an anchor lately than anything else. I’ll give Andrews a try.” 

*******

Nate Andrews hopped into the passenger’s seat of the Torino like a kid ready to go to the circus. “Man! I’ve been wanting to ride in this chariot since the first time I saw it.”

Starsky grinned. Finally! A partner who appreciated the tomato! Things were definitely looking up. “Stick with me, kid, and I may even let you take the wheel sometime.”

“Really?”

Starsky fired up the engine and pulled out of the garage. “Don’t count your chickens but… maybe.”

He and Andrews dug into the robbery cases, interviewed everyone who’d been victimized, checked alibis meticulously, compared statements and, by Wednesday, had homed in on the teenage son of one of the store owners. The kid had a real hard-on about how overly strict he felt his father was and had apparently talked a few of his less-than-savory friends into breaking into not only his father’s store, but those of a number of his father’s Kiwanis Club colleagues.

Starsky and Andrews were on their way to pick up the suspect and take him to the station for official questioning, when a call came over the radio. “Zebra Three, see the officer in the alley behind Second, cross street Elm.”

Starsky grabbed the mic before Andrews could reach it. “What’s this about, Dispatch? Andrews and I are on our way to grab a perp.”

“The officer on scene,” the voice came back over the radio, “thinks he’s found your partner.”

“What are you talking about?” Starsky didn’t try to hide the frustration in his voice. “My partner’s right here in the car!”

“No, Starsky, not Andrews,” Dispatch replied. “The officer thinks he’s found Hutchinson.”

“Well, well, the prodigal returns, huh?” Starsky thought about it for a moment before keying the mic again. “Get somebody else, okay? Andrews and I are in a hurry!” He hung up.

“That was a little harsh.” Andrews said. “He’s been your partner for three years, hasn’t he?”

“So what? He’s treated me like shit a time or two. Lying about being willing to follow me to a Mexican restaurant I really wanted to try. Taking my expensive new watch right off my wrist and giving it away without asking.”

“Ouch.”

“Let him see what that kind of thing feels like.”

*******

In Dobey’s office that afternoon, Starsky and Andrews handed in their reports on the questioning and subsequent arrest of the teenage robbery suspect. 

“You think his parents will put up the kid’s bail, after the hearing?” Dobey asked.

Starsky shook his head as he sat down. Andrews brought him a cup of water and Starsky drank it. “Nope. The father’s had it. Took the lawyer with him when he left interview. Says his son’s been coddled too long - a stint in juvie, or whatever the D.A. and a Public Defender come up with, might do him some good.”

Dobey clearly wasn’t convinced but it was out of his hands. “Have you heard about Hutch?”

Starsky gave the cup back to Andrews who refilled it, sat in the second guest chair, and drank. “What about him?” Starsky asked.

“Apparently,” Dobey began, “he’d been held captive somewhere. His wrists had rope burns and he’d been beaten.”

“That’s not good,” Andrews noted. “Is he going to be okay?”

Dobey laced his fingers on top of the folders on his desk. “That’s just it. We don’t know. In addition to the physical damage, his left arm was full of track marks.”

That made Starsky blink a few times. “Hutch doesn’t do drugs, Cap. You know that.”

“I thought I did, Starsky,” Dobey said. “But the evidence is there. He’s so strung out he can’t tell us what happened. He has no idea who kidnapped him or where he was held. He just rants and begs everyone to give him some help. He’s in worse shape than any junkie I’ve ever seen. The docs say he’s a full-blown heroin addict.”

“They’ve got a cure for that now, right?” Andrews asked.

“No. Not a cure,” Dobey answered. “If he can’t, or doesn’t want to kick it, they can give him something to… maintain.”

“Either way, though,” Starsky said, “he’s out of the department. Zero tolerance, isn’t that the policy these days?”

“Yes,” Dobey answered. “He didn’t have any drugs or paraphernalia on him so no charges’ll be filed, but I.A. will take his badge.”

Starsky looked at Andrews. “Well, Nate, looks like we’re each other’s new best friend.”

 

END

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first Starsky and Hutch story I’ve written that I don’t like. No, not just ‘don’t like,’ I hate it! But I felt compelled to write it! Conflict, antagonism, disloyalty, betrayal, and all those other mean-spirited traits may be acceptable, laudable - even required - in other fandoms, but they are totally inappropriate for Starsky & Hutch. There was never a series that demonstrated partnership, friendship, camaraderie, trust, and love the way S&H did. If authors and readers want to wallow in stories that deny what we saw, please use different character names and post them in a different fandom.


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